Some Addvance Love

10-24-2012, 10:31 PM

Not been a lot of recent love in the Addvance forum lately so I'd thought I would share my last session.

Turned up at my local point break for an early before work. The Potatonator is my usual goto board here as the wave is normally a bit full. This morning it was bigger than most days with the sets probably 1 1/2 head high. I thought it might be a bit big for the Pnator so pulled out the 6'10 Addvance, stuck in a set of Pancho Sullivan fins, then copped ten waves in a row on the head trying to get out. I can duckdive the Addvance to a reasonable degree but just seemed to time a high wave count set all wrong. Could have happened on any board.

Made it out the back, sat up and just had time to catch my breath and another set comes. The first wave was bigger than anything I have taken on this new 6'10 Addvance and I can recall my experiences on the 7'2 Addvance which was a bit skitish on the larger stuff. I'm starting to regret not picking up my larger wave board when I left home. Got to have a go, so I turned and stroked into it. It lined up well and the 6'10 addvance was very solid on take off getting in easy and early and I'm up on my feet. I can feel the larger fins from the first bottom turn but the extra speed generated from the larger wave felt good and the board was connected to the wave. I'm now starting to feel really good. After a beating on the way out, I was a bit wider and further out than the pack which are now fast approaching in a mad scramble to get over my wave. As usual for this spot, not alot of love with most heading for the shoulder and creating a high speed slalom course for me. The board was in control and I navigated the pack then a nice cut back where it starts to fill in - all feels good. The wave gets a bit full and a small step forward increases speed to the inside section which is now a bit smaller but lines up. Now only the last bit of the tail is in the water bouncing off the top of a near vertical lip going down the line. I end up at the beach and the wave has petered out to 2ft, flop to my belly, rip my leggie off and start the walk back. I actually considered going home at that point as I didn't think it could get any better. Nonetheless I kept going and ended up doing another 3 or 4 loops of usually 2 waves before getting out and walking back. In all a very nice start to the day.

I'm sure the waves may not have been as big and I wasn't going as fast or vertical as I think I was but this is my memory now. :) It was even sweeter when we were joined by a pod of dolpins that swam in between and under the pack for a good 10 minutes.

The Addvance wasn't as fast as the Elf which would have went well on these fuller waves, and wasn't as vertical as the Pnator can go with all the lift from that big tail, but it just felt solid and in control. The larger fins probably made a difference and they did catch me once on a small wave where I kooked a cutback on my backhand. Confronted but similar conditions again, I wouldnt hesitate pulling out the Addvance again. I'm now keen to see what it can do when it starts barrelling at this size. Unfortunately the swell is dropping and I am now behind in my work.

Sounds great (and I like that you took your leggie off before walking back- my instructor way back when I learnt emphasised you dont walk with your leggie...)(I'm sure for there is a safety issue, I mean its not like surfers care about 'the look')

When you say the wave is 'full', what does that mean - not steep (like a beach break)? (what I would call 'crumbly' - the lip wanders down the wave rather than barrelling over the top).

Comment

STC, forgot to ask - do you think there is a big difference between the 610 and the 702, or only ''as much' as you would expect from the 4inch difference? You have mentioned the 610 seems more comfortable in the larger stuff, but what about the smaller end? And paddling, stability, turning and so forth

thanks

Comment

Hi DTC, I probably have not had the 6'10 out enough in bigger waves to really comment. There seems to be a lack of swell coinciding with my small windows of surf time ATM. On the one day I wrote about the 6'10 definately felt more comfortable as I found the 7'2 to feel skittish. In the smaller stuff I don't notice the difference too much as the 610 is still a wave catching machine and the improved performance is about as you would expect.